


More that Unites than Divides

by glindasgay (rootcoding)



Category: Mean Girls (2004), Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: honestly not sure where this is going yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 01:59:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14990318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rootcoding/pseuds/glindasgay
Summary: janis and gretchen bonding. this isn't from a prompt or anything and i'm not sure if i will continue it or in what direction. i'm not sure yet.





	More that Unites than Divides

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not sure if i'm continuing it yet but if i do then it'll probably get a lot longer.  
> feel free to send me prompts or come hmu on tumblr @ groolforschool  
> pls let me know what you think ! comments and feedback actually make my entire day  
> go forth and be gay ilu

This was where Janis felt most content. With her eyes focusing only on the painting she was working on, with soft rock tunes floating across the art room for the radio in the far corner. It was her peace and her serenity to be shut up alone in there for an hour and she could have almost groaned aloud when she heard the door pull open sharply. Her mouth fell open in shock when she saw Gretchen Weiners standing there alone, her usual trademark short skirt and tight top on and her bag thrown over one shoulder. It was as though she was waiting for an invitation to enter - Gretchen, the social vampire. When she didn’t get one, she darted in quickly, shutting the door carefully behind her, and moved silently to hover behind Janis.

“Hi.” It a quiet greeting. She seemed somewhat nervous, but Gretchen was standing quite still. Her usual jumpy nature seemed at peace here too, much like Janis’ own snarky appearance. Defensive. They both knew what it was like to have to have to hide.

“Hey,” Janis replied. There was an awkwardness there. The two girls were not friends, even with everything that had passed they had spent such little time alone in each other’s company it was as though nothing had changed. Gretchen walked behind Janis and hopped up to sit on the table behind her.

“This is nice.” She gestured at the painting vaguely. There was something in Gretchen’s voice that caused her words to ring false, something that had been trained into her. It was a desire to please and Janis had never trusted it, so she threw the girl a half-smile and turned away back to her painting. Gretchen had never had any urge to please Janis before, to even say anything more gentle than a cruel comment or bitter judgement so perhaps there was a genuine tone to her compliment.

Janis found her eyes drawn back to Gretchen; it was always off-putting to have an audience while she worked and Gretchen’s incessant tapping was grating on her nerves. Always a little jumpy, Gretchen swung her perfect legs off the table top and Janis tried hard not to stare at them, shifting her gaze to her dolled-up face. She watched her brush back those trademark thick waves out her eyes and laughed quietly to herself as she remembered Damian’s joke to Cady. Hair full of secrets.

“What? What are you laughing at?” Gretchen froze, smoothing her hair down. As still as a rabbit trapped in the headlights of oncoming traffic.

“Nothing,” Janis shrugged in response.

“What is it?” There was a break in her voice, something vulnerable and childlike and Janis felt an odd guilt for the first time. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing - I just, I thought you looked nice.” The compliment came as a shock to the other girl and Janis could not help but smile as she saw it process. She half-expected some homophobic retort but Gretchen seemed thrilled to pieces with the praise and sat silently beside her with a soft smile on her face for some time. The tapping no longer irritated Janis. She painted as Gretchen watched.

“I used to draw.” Gretchen spoke quickly, as though she were holding a microphone someone was going to yank shortly from her hands, unsure if she was going to be allowed to elaborate. Something about it reminded Janis of her childhood, when they would all sit in a circle in class, cross-legged, and no one could speak without holding the baton. So that each person could get their turn. Gretchen was milking her moment with it gripped in her fist. Janis wondered if anyone had let her speak for some time. She didn’t reply or respond, simply waited for the nervous girl to continue. “I liked cartoons. I drew them on all my school books in middle school. You probably don’t remember?”

Janis did remember but she didn’t respond. The young girl she had known in eighth grade would not recognise this Gretchen, jittery and plastic. Cold, shiny and hard; that was something Janis tried hard to remember but often struggled not to forget. Each day she found herself finding Karen’s ridiculous comments more endearing and her unending optimism a great relief. Regina’s presence in her life again was complicated, to say the least, but not entirely unwelcome. There was a catharsis in it. A kind of healing she had never thought she would gain. It was different with Gretchen; she was not innocent but nor was she the true betrayer. She had never been Janis’ friend to turn her back and ridicule her as Regina had. She had just been another Jewish teenage girl with glasses who drew little doodles on the corner of her textbooks that Janis had enjoyed when she’d sat beside her in class before Regina had got her contacts sorted and moved her seat next to hers. Before the school hallways had become a place of terror and upset and she’d fled to a year of art therapy and reprieve, returning only to find herself in seclusion still. Gretchen had taken Janis’ place beside Regina and she had fulfilled that position so much better than Janis ever had. They had seemed a better match and Janis had never thought much about what it cost the other girl to do it.

Gretchen seemed to take her silence as affirmation and continued anxiously. “Regina said they were childish and silly - which they were!” She ducked and weaved around herself, as though unsure about her own thoughts. Empathy was a natural response and Janis could not help but reach out to hold the other girl’s hand, half expecting to be pushed away. Gretchen clung tight as she continued, her painted nails scratching a little against Janis’ paint flecked palms. “I was going to take art at North Shore but I didn’t want anyone thinking I was an art freak.”

Janis laughed with her. There was little point in taking offence when Gretchen clearly didn’t mean any. She spoke earnestly, as though confessing something treasonous. Remembering what Cady had said all those months before, ‘Gretchen is fragile’, Janis simply smiled at her and squeezed her palm.

“I’m always here - in the art block, any free lesson so, if you ever wanted to paint or draw?” It was a little disjointed but the offer was genuine. It seemed to be what Gretchen was looking for, some kind of affirmation. Someone to say that it was okay. Sometimes that's all you needed.

She didn’t respond but Gretchen hopped down from the side. Her hair brushed against Janis’ as she leant in close to her painted, as though surveying it. Janis felt overwhelmingly uncomfortable with the proximity but did not pull back until Gretchen withdrew and turned to face her.

“Can we start today?”


End file.
